Of those ten, three were born in Montenegro, two in Bosnia, and there are single representatives born in Spain, Cuba, France, Egypt and Tunisia.

Broadly speaking, the "foreign" players are older, five of them being in their 30s, a couple in their late 30s.

The six Qatari-born players are mostly in their early 20s. The stats showed than none of them played anything other than a fleeting part at best in the latest win.

What do we think about this?

Saif Saaeed Shaheen, formerly Stephen Cherono of Kenya, was a controversial winner of the 3,000m steeplechase title at the 2003 IAAF World Championships in Paris for Qatar
©Getty Images

For some, this scenario will bring back discussions which swirled around track and field over a decade ago when Qatar - along with other Gulf states such as Bahrain - bought up a tranche of running talent, much of it Kenyan, with which to make a national statement.

At the 2003 International Association of Athletics World Championships, memorably, Kenya's Stephen Cherono, signed up by Qatar and given a new name of Saif Saaeed Shaheen, won the 3,000 metres steeplechase, beating - and ignoring - his elder brother Abraham, who was competing for his birth nation.

So unfamiliar had Cherono the younger been with his new identity upon arrival in Paris that he had had to refer to his new Qatari passport to remind himself.

There had already been rumours that Shaheen and his Kenyan compatriot Albert Chepkurui, who was also running for Qatar under the name of Ahmed Hassan Abdullah, had been offered $1 million to switch nationality.

After running in the Zurich Weltklasse meeting less than a week after becoming a Qatari citizen, Shaheen denied this figure, but admitted to reporters: "Qatar will pay $1000 a month, even after my retirement. In Kenya there is nothing like this. Qatar is a country with a lot of opportunities."

It seems many more have since come to this small, oil-rich state for similar sporting opportunities in the ensuing decade. Even FIFA and the IAAF, some have argued.

Money has talked, and continues to talk. It's obvious.

But if Qatar's joyous progress to the heights of handball, coming so soon after they have won the Asian Games title, fills many followers of that sport with feelings of emptiness or worse, it is perhaps worth considering some of the things which have subsequently happened within track and field for Qatar.

Shaheen was prevented by Kenya from running at the 2004 Olympics because, under International Olympic Committee rules, competitors changing allegiance had to wait for three years after being granted citizenship before they could compete in the Games for their new country, unless both countries agreed, in which case it was one year. Shortly afterwards, the IAAF amended their rules to be in line with this.

Mutaz Essa Barshim, born in Doha 23 years ago, and pictured with his 2013 World Championships silver medal in Moscow, has been a shining star in the high jump over the last two years, narrowly missing out on the IAAF World Athlete of the Year award in 2014
©Getty Images

What has happened since then is that a talented coach - Jama Aden - has worked as the senior coach within Qatar athletics and encouraged a small group of senior native Qataris and a cohort of younger ones towards international prominence.

It has to be said that one of the most promising younger athletes, Hamza Driouch, the 20-year-old who won the world junior 1500m title in 2012, is a naturalised Moroccan, having arrived in Qatar in 2010.

However, a shining star has emerged within Qatar track and field, a charming and talented young man born 23 years ago in Doha – Mutaz Essa Barshim, whose exploits in the high jump in the last couple of years have elevated him to the top of the sport.

Last year Barshim - who is coached by Stanisław "Stanley" Szczyrba- won the IAAF World Indoor title and played out a thrilling duel in the course of the summer season with the outdoor world champion, Bohdan Bondarenko of Ukraine, finishing the year with a clearance of 2.43 metres, a height only the longstanding world record holder Javier Sotomayor, has bettered.

Had France's Renaud Lavillenie not beaten Sergei Bubka's almost 21-year-old world pole vault record last year, Barshim would have been voted IAAF Athlete of the Year.

Qatar will be looking for its young nationals, such as Hadi Hamdoon (left), to benefit and build on their experience within its squad at the World Handball Championships ©Getty Images

The international band now assembled under the masterly guidance of Rivera is doubtless there in accordance with current rules. A number of the players have not represented their countries of birth for three years or more before being signed up by Qatar, either because they were have been deemed too old or have fallen out with their federations.

Meanwhile, for the six younger Qatari-born players, this Championship will be a hugely valuable experience, even if their impact on it is minimal.

However the next few days turn out for the Qatar handball team, what they need to happen in the longer term is for young talents such as 22-year-old Hadi Hamdoon, 23-year-old Kamaldin Mallash and 20-year-old Ameen Zakkar to start playing bigger and more regular parts in the national team operation.

To find a handball player who can reach the heights that Barshim has achieved in athletics would be like some kind of a miracle. But if it has happened once, it can happen again.

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, covered the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics as chief feature writer for insidethegames, having covered the previous five summer Games, and four winter Games, for The Independent. He has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, The Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. To follow him on Twitter click here.